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Started By
Message
re: How much does an "average" Car Accident Lawyer in Louisiana make per year?
Posted on 5/28/26 at 10:20 am to Indefatigable
Posted on 5/28/26 at 10:20 am to Indefatigable
quote:
are the guys who put in 2,200+ hours a year
So, 43 hours per week on average? INSANE work ethic.
2
Posted on 5/28/26 at 10:20 am to 777Tiger
quote:
40 hour work week is only 2000 hours(factoring in two weeks vacation,) what a bunch of pussies
That would be billable hours, not hours working or hours in the office.
Posted on 5/28/26 at 10:20 am to LSUAlum2001
quote:
So, 43 hours per week on average? INSANE work ethic.
It takes more than 43 hours to bill 43 hours. Especially at the larger firms with more hands touching files.
Though my hours comment is more the case on the defense side of things and other areas, not the plaintiff guys working on contingencies.
This post was edited on 5/28/26 at 10:23 am
Posted on 5/28/26 at 10:21 am to 777Tiger
well, when you have drivers getting their cut for wrecking people on purpose it can add up
on top of that you have a state whose interstate system is beyond outdated that adds to the mess already
on top of that you have a state whose interstate system is beyond outdated that adds to the mess already
Posted on 5/28/26 at 10:22 am to Indefatigable
You can’t charge clients for certain things? Such as?
Posted on 5/28/26 at 10:26 am to slutiger5
quote:
You can’t charge clients for certain things? Such as?
Depends. The insurance companies and business clients, especially sophisticated ones, often have guidelines on what they will/won't pay for. Limits on research time, recoverable travel, correspondence and internal communications, etc.
Of course there is art in billing your time in a manner that is within those guidelines, but inevitably there is time lost compared to the amount of time you worked that day. Plus, if there is some nuance or unique aspect involved for something like summary judgment, it often takes longer to accomplish than would look reasonable to a lay person---that time is getting cut.
Then there is situations where an associate and partner are working on a case, and a client may not allow double billing for a task like drafting motions or deposition prep. Guess whose time isn't going on the bill and thus won't have recievables for their time?
This post was edited on 5/28/26 at 10:29 am
Posted on 5/28/26 at 10:26 am to LSUAlum2001
quote:
now of one Gordon client who has gotten in at least four car wrecks over the last decade and she has sued every time
This pisses me off so much.
I drive as much as 50k miles a year and don't get in that many wrecks, and I damn sure would never consider suing for a wreck unless I was wronged in some egregious way.
This is why insurance costs so fricking much here and why every time you take to the road in Louisiana, you're playing a pawn in the ghetto lottery. frick people fricking suck so much.
Posted on 5/28/26 at 10:26 am to Indefatigable
quote:
That would be billable hours,
does the meter ever stop running?Posted on 5/28/26 at 10:27 am to 777Tiger
quote:
does the meter ever stop running?
Mine is running, right now.
Posted on 5/28/26 at 10:29 am to LSUAlum2001
quote:
So, 43 hours per week on average? INSANE work ethic.
43 billable hours is going to be somewhere between 60-80 hours of work.
It's a 1.5-2x rate, typically, which depends on the lawyers and clients (insurance companies have become VERY stingy and they're the dominant client for billables)
Posted on 5/28/26 at 10:30 am to Indefatigable
quote:
Mine is running, right now.
one of my best friends and frat brother is an attorney, we were driving the other day and he got a couple of calls as we were driving(coming back from a road trip,) he jokingly(but he was dead serious,) made a comment about having three different clients on the clock as we were driving, and one of them was another of our fraternity brothers
Posted on 5/28/26 at 10:32 am to Breauxsif
quote:
Salaried associates receive a modest base pay but get a percentage cut e.g., 5% to 10% of every case they resolve or bring into the firm. A good year of settlements can easily double an associate's baseline salary.
To clarify, are they getting 5-10% of the award, or 5-10% of the money brought in?
Had a buddy handle my car accident case, and I am pretty sure he told me the standard rate was his firm gets 33% of the award, and he gets 10-20% of the money the firm brings in (range is based on if it was a referral, or a walk-in)
Posted on 5/28/26 at 10:35 am to 777Tiger
quote:
one of my best friends and frat brother is an attorney, we were driving the other day and he got a couple of calls as we were driving(coming back from a road trip,) he jokingly(but he was dead serious,) made a comment about having three different clients on the clock as we were driving, and one of them was another of our fraternity brothers
I did some work for an old roommate's business a while back. We were in Clemson for the LSU game with a group and at one point while we were drinking he started talking about the issue I was helping with. I put my hand up and (jokingly) told him "If you make me think about your case, I'm going to bill you for however long it takes for me to forget about it."
This post was edited on 5/28/26 at 10:36 am
Posted on 5/28/26 at 10:35 am to Chastains
I would think the number fluctuates year to year for PI. Some months they are spending their time turning non-injury fender benders into $30-50,000+ cases through their fellow mobster chiro and pain-management providers. The next year they might get an 18 wheeler wreck with some serious injuries and cash in on that.
Posted on 5/28/26 at 10:37 am to Indefatigable
quote:
"If you make me think about your case, I'm going to bill you for however long it takes for me to forget about it."
oh hell yeah!! a man got to eat!!
Posted on 5/28/26 at 10:38 am to Indefatigable
No. It does not. Lawyers will bill you for things no other business would even entertain, like them going to dinner and enjoying wine and steak. When I owned a business, I had to file liens a few times against companies. 40% of what I was awarded was consumed in legal costs each time and those guys didn’t have to do hardly anything. Their “billable hours” sheets were almost entirely fictionalized. One firm even tried to bill a paralegal out at $400 per hour. The billable hours, in my numerous experiences, are way over what they actually did.
Posted on 5/28/26 at 10:38 am to Chastains
They are spending a lot on TV advertising for sure. My 5am news experience is filled with weather forecasts and PI Attorneys (who look like they need an attorney in a bad way)…selling ‘lotto-like’ law services.
Posted on 5/28/26 at 10:42 am to Everyday Is Saturday
Yeah, the TV stuff gets absurd. You can either fight the big guys and try to compete in that crowded space or you can rely on an established referral network and former clients.
Posted on 5/28/26 at 10:43 am to RandRules
quote:
Lawyers will bill you for things no other business would even entertain,
I was involved in a pretty big suit a few years back, after the verdict was issued we had a hearing to haggle over fees, my attorney was the only attorney in his firm that laid hands on my case and had a reasonable bill presented, the other side had about 12-15 attorneys submitting bills, and they tried to include clerical things like making copies and dropping things off at FedEx billed at attorney hourly rates, thankfully the judge called bullshite on that and they din't get a penny from us
Posted on 5/28/26 at 10:44 am to Chastains
In Baton Rouge, basically every time someone who lives north of Florida Blvd. gets in a wreck they will call Gordon, Dudley Debosier, etc. All they have to do is claim that they are hurt and the big insurance companies will throw $30,000 at them to settle.
The person claiming they’re hurt will barely see anything, but everyone in the firm(young and old) does very well because these settlements are constant.
The biggest losers are the insured motorists in Louisiana. The love Gordon gets for throwing a few thousand dollars at LSU athletes makes me sick.
The person claiming they’re hurt will barely see anything, but everyone in the firm(young and old) does very well because these settlements are constant.
The biggest losers are the insured motorists in Louisiana. The love Gordon gets for throwing a few thousand dollars at LSU athletes makes me sick.
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